My Brilliant Friend

Well I can see why this is popular. When you so perfectly combine lifelong friendship and post-war Italy you can't miss.

Does everyone have the brilliant friend? The friend who you share a unique understanding of the world with that no one else seems to grasp? The friend that makes you feel both less and more than what you are?

That's nice to know, it's a friendship you don't see in literature enough.

Also, surely I'm not the only one that absolutely loved when Ferrante did that thing that some novels do, where it turns out the brilliant friend in the title wasn't who you expected. As the Elena of my duo, I appreciated the ego stroke.

The main character, Elena, who is now in her 60s, recounts a childhood spent growing up with her best friend Lina in Italy. The pair are both from poor(er) families, but do well in school. They end up leading diverging lives as their individual circumstances change. The story and characters are vividly written and I read the entire book in one sitting.

There's a 1 chapter setup for the book in present time, before a 50 year jump back in time for the rest of the book. The story ends on an abrupt cliffhanger. At first I thought this was some sort of literary technique to make you go and reread the first chapter to piece together what happens, but no this is actually just the setup for the next book (lol).

I mean I miiiight go read the second, and I am sort of curious about the HBO series although unfortunately I'm not sure where to view it in my country!

I've read a few of the one star or none reviews, I'm sorry for you, maybe it's the translation to English that makes it imposible to achieve the profound impact it has on Italian, Spanish or Portuguese readers. I was reading in Spanish Pride and Prejudice, it just isn't the same book, the marvelous humor and sarcasm of Elizabeth Bennet is totally lost, I guess it the same here.